Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Katya carried Peter in her arms, with Matthias being carried by Kariya, who soon came with her after the small scuffle they had.

They managed to bandage him up good, but his injuries were too severe to heal so soon.

“Why are we still carrying that… thing around. What if it wakes up and goes berserk again? I don’t think we can keep them down forever.” Kariya side-eyed Peter’s body while carefully inching away from it like it had the plague.

“There is still hope for him yet. As long as he could control the monster within him, then he would be our greatest ally yet.”

“I do not think that would be possible. He was already struggling with Andrei inside of him. Could he really do any better with a spirit of anger?”

Katya looked down at Peter, frowning ever so slightly before she looked straight ahead, eyeing a rock formation that was shaped like wings. “There’s always hope. As long as we have that, then we can continue. I believe that he has the chance to pull through, and I will make sure that we give him as much of that chance as we can.”

“For all of our sake, I hope we can have much more than hope.”

Both of them stayed quiet after their exchange. They walked back to the rest of the group stationed up ahead by the mouth of the cave. There, Rodion and Leonid watched over a nervous Godwin and a sullen Carey. All of them were surrounding the campfire, staring at it silently.

“We’re back, and we have to keep moving now as fast as possible.” Katya announced as she tried her best to face the others, staring right into their eyes with a look of hidden desperation.

“What happened- Are they-“ Carey stood up first, her eyes widened as she saw Matthias’s and Peter’s bodies.

“They’re… Worse for wear, Matthias more so than Peter.”

“What happened to them? Were they accosted by some monster? If so, is it still alive, and is that why we have to move?” Godwin stood up and walked quickly over to check on Matthias, brushing past his hair as he studied his condition.

He nearly recoiled upon seeing his friend so badly bruised and injured before turning to Peter to check on him. “Peter… He’s practically unmarked. What happened to him?”

“His power has caused him to lose his mind. He now has a monster’s soul within him that causes him to lash out and act uncontrollably. He fell unconscious, and I believe he is currently wrestling with them in his head.”

Godwin’s eyes widened as he turned to Matthias. “So these injuries, it was Peter’s doing?”

Katya gave a silent nod as Godwin silently stared at Peter. “There’s a chance that he now poses a threat to us, too, correct?”

Carey crossed her arms and frowned. “He absorbed a monster’s soul? So he’s now a monster as well? Why are we still bringing him along?”

“B-Because… He’s one of us. It… It was an accident-“ Matthias coughed up blood as he sat up in Kariya’s arms.

“Don’t move or speak. You are far too injured to be doing anything.”

“W-We need to get up the mountain’s pass… And head to Baba Roga’s home by the snow peak… She could help out. She knows what to do with him and how to get to Baba Yaga.”

“Do you think she has the capability of healing you as well?” Katya asked as she, Leonid, and Rodion checked out the entrance to see if there were any monsters out in the distance.

“Y-Yes, b-but we have to hurry…”

He was right, in more ways than one; a timer has been placed on them all. Katya knew that Peter’s presence and outburst had gathered the monsters around them now, and Matthias’s injuries were lethal; he wouldn't survive for any longer, especially out in the cold.

Rodion crossed his arms and stared out at the mountain pass. “Maybe we can just tie him on a rope and drag him around. By our backs, a lot safer that… way.” He turned around,d and Katya gave him a cold stare that immediately shot him down.

Leonid cracked a silent smile at his friend’s shutdown but hid it quickly before he incurred the wrath of his superior.

“Then, that’s what we focus on now. We need to protect both of them while climbing up.” Katya kicked some snow onto the fire to put it out.

“Kariya and I will be in the middle of the formation, Godwin and Carey at the back, and the both of you at the front, is that clear?”

“Yes, Captain Faina.” The Keepers answered with startling efficiency as they all carefully assumed their positions.

Carey looked up at Godwin, who had distraught molded onto his face. This was the first time she had ever seen him like this. “Do… Do you think we could make it?”

“Perhaps. There is no such definitive answer here. It is all in the hands of the world at large now.”

“... So we’re doomed, aren’t we?” Carey rubbed her face with her hands as she shook. “If only he didn’t run away…”

“You shouldn’t have grilled him so much.” Leonid muttered audibly under his breath as Carey gritted her teeth in frustration.

“Tch, I was just-”

“P-Please… Let’s just go now…” Matthias begged from Kariya’s arms as he winced in pain. He closed his eyes to try and get some rest, but the dull pain in his chest and stomach continued to ache.

“We need all the breath we can for the climb. It’s quite steep, watch your step and stay as close to us as possible, understand?” Katya walked ahead, even if she was in the middle of the pack; she was still the captain of this squad, for better or for worse.

Rodion leaned in to both Godwin and Carey, offering them a handheld hook. “Here, whenever a spot gets hard to climb, you try to hook to the nearest physical surface you see to buy you some time to help get you up.”

“B-Buy some time?” Carey asked with a quivering voice as she took a peek out of the cave, finding the steep mountain pass that they would have to climb. Her mouth became dry at just the very sight of it in the distance.

Godwin patted her on the back. “My dear, you can hold onto me if you would like. Don’t tug on me too hard, though. We both need to get out of this alive and in one piece.”

He gave her a smile, trying his best to reassure her as they stepped out of their cave and began their journey upwards.

The first few minutes weren’t all that bad. While steep, it was bearable, and since the snow was packed so tightly, there weren't any stability issues as they traversed upstream. However, the air was starting to get a little thin. This wasn’t a problem for the Keepers, as they are quite used to these types of climate, but Carey started to get dizzy, nearly losing balance before Godwin pulled her up to his side.

“Come on now, take only deep breaths, make them count. In… and out… In and out.” He breathed with her to get her bearings before they joined back to the party.

Matthias, meanwhile, was faring marginally better. He was quite used to the thin air going up the mountaintops; in fact, he used to do it quite often when he met up with the other Babas. But, there were seldom moments when he had to do so injured, and only once when he was in such a sorry condition.

He looked up at Kariya, and saw… Koschei was holding him up with that same grin on his face, chuckling as if he had heard a bad joke.

“It’s okay, brother, I am here. As long as I am able to hold onto you, then no harm shall befall you.”

“Where… Where are we going?” Matthias turned to look around Koschei, yet found that they were alone.

“To Baba Yaga, of course, you need to be healed quickly before you bleed out and join those in Nawia.”

Matthias tilted his head slightly away from Koschei. “Maybe… I want to join them; maybe I deserve to join them. Maybe that’s why I ended up like this, and why I deserved this.”

He cried a little. For a while there with Peter, everything looked all right. Everything seemed to be working well. He thought for a moment it was the turning point of his life.

But it was Galfania. There was no upturn here, only a spiral with some bumps at the bottom. There was no getting back up. That was the law of this land.

“We all will join them one day, but now is not your time. Now is not the time for your destiny, brother.”

“So, when will my destiny come? When will I finally be free?”

Koschei shrugged and chuckled ever so slightly. “That, I do not know. But we shouldn’t dwell on such thoughts for now. So rest, close your eyes, and dream of better times, for when you awaken, I’m sure they will be indistinguishable from your dreams.

Matthias followed his instructions, closing his eyes as he sniffled, falling deeper into the darkness of shallow breaths. Perhaps this time, he wouldn’t have any nightmares. Perhaps, this time, he could finally rest.

Kariya carefully wrapped Matthias’s eyes with a piece of cloth, noticing how distraught he looked in his sleep. “How much longer until we make it to where he was talking about?” She turned to Katya.

“Perhaps we would be there in a hundred paces, or a thousand. We will never know until we finally make it. There’s no point in discussing, only in moving on.” She lifted Peter into a fireman’s carry for an easier time.

“This is no different than the hundreds of other missions we have been on. There’s no reason to dwell on it at all.” Katya muttered aloud, less to the others and more for herself.

“All we have to do is ignore the fact that we don’t have a base anymore. We don’t know where the other Keepers are, and that we’re stuck with someone who can wake up at any moment and kill us.” Rodion laughed a little and shook his head as Leonid glared at him.

“Nothing has changed, then. We’re in the deep end, and it only gets deeper.”

“What’s the deepest end then?”

Leonid shrugged a bit. “Death? Becoming a monster?”

Kariya side-eyed Peter for a bit. “Sounds like we’re pretty close to both then.”

Katya said nothing. She knew they were all right, but they had to continue; she had to continue. If she gave up now, then she failed. That would be her fault; it would be on her conscience. It would be because of her.

She gripped on Peter’s leg, trudging forward. It was on her to be an example, to lead the way for them. If she couldn’t be their vanguard, then she would be useless. So she continued, ventured forth, forcing the others to move with her so that she could focus on them rather than on herself.

The rest fell quiet, following her pace as they continued to hike up the mountain.

For a while, it was quiet; no sound was heard aside from crunching snow and labored breathing. The snow began to pour in like rain as the winds picked up, howling in the distance. However… Katya noticed something from the corner of her eye, a faint shadow, following them closer and closer.

She grabbed the hilt of her spear, waiting for the proper moment… And it came, like a flash in the dark, as the shadow lunged at the group. Then, with dextrous finesse, she threw her spear into the air.

With a clink, the spear was deflected into the wall, landing with a thud as the shadowy figure dropped to the ground in front of the group, sword in hand, and snarling like a wolf.